The Inter-American Development Bank (preferred abbreviation: IDB; but frequently given as IADB), was established in 1959 to support Latin American and Caribbean economic/social development and regional integration by lending mainly to public institutions.

The IDB has four official languages. In the other three languages, its official name is:

• Spanish: Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo.
• French: Banque Interaméricaine de Développement.
• Portuguese: Banco Interamericano de Desenvolvimento.

In all three of these languages, the Bank's name is abbreviated to "BID".

The Bank is owned by 47 member countries, 21 of which are lenders:

Austria, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and United States.

Twenty-six of the members are borrowers: Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay and Venezuela.

The United States holds the most IADB shares, at 30%, but borrowers in the aggregate hold about 50% of the total number of shares.

The IDB is unique among development banks in that some of its members are also borrowers. Though this arrangement was first viewed as risky, as of 2005 no member had defaulted. It is thought that strict peer pressure has prevented the borrowers from defaulting, even when they were under severe economic pressure (as in the cases of Haiti and Argentina).

On July 27, 2005, the Colombian diplomat Luis Alberto Moreno was elected to succeed Enrique V. Iglesias as President of the IDB.

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